Commitment
by Ressick
Summary: Arizona stays in Africa for the full three years of the Carter-Madison grant. How does this affect her, Callie, and the rest of the Seattle Grace family? With lots of Teddy, Alex, April, and Addison.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters, backstory, and settings belong to Shonda Rhimes and her team of lawyers. This story is meant to be for entertainment purposes only, constituting acceptable borrowing under the fair use doctrine. Please don't sue me, I have no money anyway. Please place all trays in the upright position for landing. Do not use in the bathtub. Always know where your towel is. If you hear guttural moaning in the basement while home alone in the dark, don't go down there.

A/N: I am not an expert in, well, anything legally, practically, or medically relevant to this story, so please forgive any errors you might encounter – my information comes from amazing sources like Google and Wikipedia. I wrote the bare bones of _Commitment_ in a twelve-hour overnight writing marathon in September, so it's something I'm very fond of; please be kind with your hate mail. It starts off canon, and veers into my madness after the events of 7x09. Some events (and even lines) will be vaguely recognizable from canon, but nothing is set in stone and I've definitely fiddled with timelines. A lot. Mwahahaha. Hold on, ye scurvy dogs, thar be angst ahead! Don't abandon ship!

X-X-X-X

**PROLOGUE**

Quantum physicists tell us about the possibility of parallel universes. That two universes might be exactly the same except for one butterfly flapping its wings on a particular Tuesday. Or maybe one where a World War went differently, or England spoke French. In some of those different universes, the changes were more subtle than a war and more profound than a butterfly.

In one universe, Arizona Robbins is named in honor of her beloved, alive grandfather, who saved _eighteen_ men at Pearl Harbor before being pulled from the warm waters of the Pacific barely breathing. With his grandfather alive and encouraging him, Tim Robbins follows his dream. After college, he serves his country by joining the Army Corps of Engineers and lives until the age of eighty five. With both his best friends alive, Nick deals with his cancer much earlier, and survives. The two men are enthusiastic and doting uncles to Arizona and Callie's children.

In another, Arizona doesn't take the position at Seattle Grace, but rather goes to Shriner's in Massachusetts. She meets Callie Torres at a pediatric orthopedics conference two years later.

In another, Callie Torres and Owen Hunt married a year before Arizona Robbins set foot in Ellis Grey's Seattle Grace and have three children together. The two women become unlikely friends, and eventually lovers. Callie divorces her husband, and Arizona becomes an adoring stepmother to three tiny humans.

In another, Erica Hahn doesn't disappear into a parking lot after fighting with her first girlfriend. They continue their argument for much of the next month, both out of work and in the halls of Seattle Grace, while having angry sex at every opportunity. Erica does end up splitting with Callie, but they work hard to regain their friendship, and it is Erica that pushes Callie at Arizona Robbins several months later. When Arizona wins the Carter-Madison, Erica calls Callie out on her whining. Arizona and Callie talk after Erica locks them in an on-call room for three hours, and amicably split, though both are heart broken. Erica keeps Callie from any embarrassing drunken sorbet episodes, and Arizona returns in time for Christmas, running her clinic from Seattle Grace. Erica is a bridesmaid at their wedding a year later.

In another, Arizona breaks down after being told Callie is pregnant with Mark's child. She returns to Malawi and doesn't run into Callie again until ten years later, when they are both nominated for a pediatric medicine award. Still in love, and both single, they fall into bed together. Mark having died in a plane crash shortly before Sofia turned two, Callie is free to move her and Sofia across the country and spends the next year wooing her ex girlfriend before they reunite permanently.

In another, Gary Clark shoots Callie in the lower abdomen once she hands him the bandages. Extensive damage to her uterus requires an emergency hysterectomy amongst other surgeries. Three years later, Callie and Arizona adopt their first child.

In another, Arizona doesn't win the Carter-Madison. Instead, she wins the Harper Avery five years after Wallace's death for her work on short-gut syndrome. The next year, Callie wins it for her artificial cartilage. They bring their two small children to both award ceremonies, and married after the people of Washington State voted to legalize gay marriage.

In another, despite her heartbreak, Arizona stays in Malawi until her commitment is complete. This is the story of that universe.

X-X-X-X

**CHAPTER 1**

Callie Torres awoke with a start and a fervent need to get to the toilet. Jumping up from Mark's couch, where she'd been living for several weeks, she high-tailed it into the bathroom. Luckily the seat was up, which made vomiting easier.

Callie Torres, unless she was forced to speak in public, almost never threw up. She had none of the other symptoms of a stomach flu, she hadn't had any alcohol since that night at Joe's…

_Shit._ Scrambling up from the bathroom floor, she flushed the toilet and quickly cleaned her teeth. She stumbled into the living room and grabbed her phone. With a quick flip through her contact list, she dialed, even as tears began to streak down her face, "Addie? I need you."

Luckily it was her day off. And Addison's as well. Six hours later, Addison dragged her to the Archfield, and shoved Callie into her suite's bathroom with a home pregnancy test.

An hour later, the tears hadn't stopped, though Callie had made her way from the bathroom to the oversized bed. Curled up into a ball, she was uncharacteristically silent, Addison fearfully watching her.

"Do you want to go to the clinic tomorrow?" was the first, quiet inquiry.

Callie shook her head. She didn't want Mark's baby, she wanted Arizona's. She'd always desired kids, planned to have them, but she'd only been able to picture them in her mind once she was with Arizona. And despite how many friends she'd brought to Planned Parenthood over the years, often even paying, she couldn't manage to avail herself of that option.

Her faint, desperate hope of Arizona maybe returning and eventually rebuilding their relationship died in the moment she came to the conclusion her ex would never forgive her for not only sleeping with Mark – the one man Arizona had always been uncomfortable around – but for also a lifetime shared with Mark even if he was only a part-time father. And after Sloan Riley, Mark would never settle for being a part-time parent. It was then that Callie truly broke down. She had a baby on the way, but with an immature friend instead of with the love of her life. The tears quickened, and sobs wracked her body.

Addison, who had been perched next to her on the bed, wrapped Callie in her arms as her friend disintegrated before her eyes. Mentally, Addison's mind was whirling. As soon as Callie drifted off into an emotionally exhausted sleep, Addison made several phone calls, clearing her schedule for the next week. Callie couldn't stay on Mark's couch. She'd find her best friend somewhere to live, and help her cope.

X-X-X-X

Arizona Robbins stared at her computer screen. She was temporarily in Lilongwe, coordinating the building of her clinic while also diving into surgeries at the city's main hospital. The medicine was phenomenal, and her fellow surgeons were fascinated by the cutting edge techniques she was sharing with them. She could see the difference she was already making, and that was about all that kept the tears at bay during the day. Arizona Robbins was a strong woman. A good man in a storm, as she was raised to be, as she had once promised Carlos Torres she was. But she fell apart every night, sobbing herself to sleep when she even could manage to rest. The storm swirling around in her personal life had battered her into a pulp.

The email she was currently reading was not helping with her self-control. Emails, mostly to Teddy, were about all that kept her afloat – a mix of gossip, personal chat, medical cases (including informal consults), all much like their hurried chats over a cup of coffee or glass of wine – interspersed with the occasional very professional-yet-fond emails from Miranda Bailey. Having moved so often as a child, she rarely fostered ties to places she had previously lived. But Seattle had been different. Seattle had been _home_, her friends ones she had expected to keep for a long time.

Teddy's email was apologetic. She tried to soften the blow with _"We all got really really drunk. Cristina makes this drink, it's blue, and I think I forgot a year of med school because of it, and I didn't even start off with tequila like Callie."_ But that couldn't take away from _"Callie and Mark ended up in bed together. She doesn't seem happy about it, at all."_

With silent tears running down her face, Arizona switched to another browser tab. She was logged into the airline's site, everything waiting on her credit card information to book the trip from Lilongwe to Sea-Tac, with many layovers in between. Shaking her head, she logged out of the site and closed the tab.

She would stay. There was nothing for her to go back for anyway, now. She had made a commitment – to the Carter-Madison committee, to the doctors, nurses, and orderlies she'd already hired, and most importantly to the children of Malawi. She had made a commitment she would honor. Even as inside, she broke.

X-X-X-X

Work kept going after Arizona left Callie in an airport. Surgeries couldn't be postponed so she could cry in a supply closet. And then Stark chopped off a leg she could have saved, and Callie found herself dragged into the drama. She'd ended up in a discussion/argument with the arrogant little man outside the patient waiting room, somehow, and the girl's parents had heard everything – her assertion that he should have waited because she could have saved the leg, Stark's assertion as the "senior attending" that he was right, and even Karev's gruff, profanity laden statement that she knew more about bones than Temperance Brennan and that he'd seen her rebuild worse. Besides the fact that apparently Alex Karev watched TV, she'd noticed the horrified parents listening in.

And then she'd been named as a witness for them in their lawsuit. And after they'd given their statements, so had the other nurses and doctors in the OR. Great. Just what she needed. But she was honest and open with the lawyers – she most likely could have saved the leg, or at least most of it. It would have required massive physical therapy and recovery time, but the girl had been a soccer star and was used to working hard.

She took pity on Karev after Stark blackballed him from the peds floor, calling him for every even vaguely-related peds case she acquired, as did most of the other attendings. While a doctor getting sued, and other doctors being called to testify against him, was a big deal and would generally have the doctors siding with the sued one on principal, unnecessarily amputating a child's limb, after a GSW when shootings were still a sensitive subject at Seattle Grace, on top of Stark's general behavior and angry temper tantrums on the peds floor, led to most of the employees siding with Callie and Alex. The peds nurses, residents, and lesser attendings called in consults for second opinions regularly to double-check Stark's already mediocre work. And the hospital moved on even as the lawsuit cranked through the legal system like molasses in January as the in-house counsel looked for a contract loophole that would let them get rid of Stark.

Except for April Kepner. Who had been working rather closely with Stark, and had been horrified when the news spread around the hospital.

Addison slowly lowered Callie's coffee intake, citing numerous studies regarding caffeine and various birth defects. By the time Callie was down to one cup of regular coffee a day, plus as much decaf as she could drink, the headaches started to appear. She wasn't sure if they were stress or grief or caffeine related, but they hurt. April found her in late December studying an x-ray for an upcoming surgery.

"Doctor Torres?" It was unfortunate the woman's voice was a bit grating when Callie had a headache, but despite her pep, April was a solid surgeon. Callie could respect that even when she wanted to muzzle her.

"Yes, Kepner? And can you keep it down? I have a headache," Callie replied.

"Umm… I was wondering if I could be on your service for awhile. Maybe long-term?"

Callie turned and stared. Usually, residents avoided her service, especially on a long-term basis. Avoided carpentry. There was no glory in ortho, she had realized long ago. Her own ex-husband had used her as a way to avoid people he was angry at, and even Karev was only really interested in the peds procedures. Which she understood, and was glad to indulge him. He was good with the kids, and any peds person who understood her specialty better was a positive given the amazing ways kids tended to injure themselves. Kepner had, as part of her residency at Seattle Grace, spent a particularly boring rotation helping Callie with hip replacements and cleanly-broken bones, and never looked back. "Why?"

"Umm… well." The younger woman turned slightly red. God, she hoped Kepner wasn't coming out and needed advice or something.

"Speak up or get out, Kepner. Choice is yours. Why do you want to hang around the carpenter?"

"I uhhh… I've studied the amputation case of Doctor Stark's. And watched some of your surgeries lately. And I realized I don't know enough about ortho. And it was…" April trailed off as she watched Callie stiffen at the mention of the amputation. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just… it's been really fascinating. And I want to learn more!" she rushed out her explanation.

Callie stared at her coworker some more. "I thought you were into peds, or trauma, or something."

April smiled a little. "I thought I was too."

Callie grinned. "Okay. Well, I'll talk to someone about getting you assigned to my service until you tell me otherwise. Meanwhile, you busy today?" April shook her head. "So… what can you tell me about this x-ray?"

April's skills as a surgeon easily adapted to ortho, and her farm-raised body had the hidden strength, built while hauling seed and wrestling pigs, to set hips and break bones. Callie, grateful for both a protégé and a new friend, jumped into mentoring the younger woman with both feet.

X-X-X-X

In mid-January, Arizona received an email from Alex Karev, of all people.

_Hey Robbins – _

_Look, this new department head they brought in to Peds is a total jackass. He's horrible with the kids, ignores the parents, thinks he's god's gift to medicine. Two weeks ago there was a school shooting, and we got this kid with a GSW and major damage to her leg. Stark had one guy stabilizing the GSW and he was going to cut off the leg. I'm not Ortho, and it _was_ bad, but I knew it was salvageable, especially if I could get Torres in there. And he was just going to cut it off. I spoke up, loudly, and the guy doing the GSW backed me up that the kid was stable enough for reconstruction work. So I got a nurse to page Ortho, but she didn't put a 911 on it, and Torres had her own patient so she got there after it was too late for the leg, but soon enough that she could see it was an unnecessary amputation._

_And that's what the lawsuit the parents are bringing will say. I almost body-blocked him, but I wasn't sure how long I could hold him off before Torres arrived. Anyway, thanks to Stark getting his ass sued and because I stood up for the patient, he's kicked me off the peds floor. A bunch of the other attendings are sneaking me in on peds cases if they can, but it's not going to be enough. I need to switch hospitals if I want to really concentrate on peds. Do you have any suggestions on where will take me this far into residency?_

Arizona smiled a little, the honest gesture unfamiliar outside of the reassuring surgeon-smiles she bestowed on patients and parents. It was a horrible situation, but she knew Karev was great at pediatrics, was glad he'd finally figured out it was his field, and there were several programs she could think of that would take him, even as rough around the edges as he was. Yet… she had imagined her clinic as a teaching hospital. And the overall plan included accepting residents once they were settled. She had an email to the Carter-Madison people, and one to the Chief at Seattle Grace, to write.

The Chief, desperate for some good press after the amputation story hit the local news when the irate parents talked, agreed to let her oversee the rest of Karev's residency. He would have to fly back for his boards, but he would be in Malawi as a representative of Seattle Grace for the last year-and-a-bit before his boards and the first year of the fellowship she would surely give him – and had been assured would be recognized at Seattle Grace as well should they decide to return there when her commitment was finished. It was a better result than she could have ever hoped for.

A month later found her at the Lilongwe airport as Alex Karev stepped off the gangway. He gave her that smirking grin she had figured out covered for real pleasure, and she grabbed his carry-on, unexpectedly hugging him in the process.

"Hey, Robbins," he said, letting her lead him towards baggage claim.

"Karev, glad to see you. C'mon, I've got the spare bed all set up for you," Arizona smiled, honest and open. Her first real taste of Seattle – her favored protégé – was in Lilongwe, and it didn't hurt. It made her happy, in fact, to see the resident she thought was the future of peds. And she was bringing him in to be a part of her dream. Others hadn't wanted a part in her dream – she stomped that thought down inside before she pictured Calliope's face as she had walked away in Sea-Tac – but Alex Karev jumped at the chance she offered him.

"I'm living with you?" His eyes were surprised, but he quickly covered it.

"Yeah, space is tight and funding nonexistent for extra rooms at the hotel. So you'll have to tough it out for awhile. I promise I pick up my towels. Once the clinic is actually built, you can have your own room, but you'll still have to share living space. I didn't account for residents for another couple of years," she replied, dimples breaking out for the first time since before Sea-Tac. It was _good_ to see Karev. He had such potential, and her patients could really use his skills.

"Sounds fine," he gruffed. "So the clinic is being built?"

"They broke ground not long after I got here, but there's still time before they're done. And as my first resident, you also get to be my assistant. More paperwork, sorry, but also the best surgeries! Plus, I just got the extra funding to build a school near the clinic, for the patients and their families. The refugee situation in Malawi means it'll be the first schooling a lot of these kids will have had. You get to help me hire teachers. I hope you can pick up languages quickly. Chichewa is not an easy language for me, and our staff translators aren't always available," she grabbed the second large suitcase he'd pulled from the conveyor belt. "This it?" At his nod, she started to lead him towards the parking lot and the battered truck she'd bought for the clinic's use.

"I was reading about that. Lot of refugees from other countries?" He'd read a good deal about Malawi since Robbins' offer came in his email and was confirmed by the Chief. He read up on the gender violence and anti-gay sentiment in his new country, and had already decided to stick to Robbins like glue.

"Unfortunately. And we'll get a lot of patients referred from the Red Cross refugee camps, stuff they can't handle. It's already been arranged – ambulances, some funding help, that kind of thing. Otherwise they'd either be out of luck or trying to medivac the kid to a city hospital, but that's pretty hard to manage on their budget." She threw his suitcase in the back of the old Ford, and unlocked the door. "C'mon, the hotel's about a half hour away, we'll get you settled, and then you can see where we're working out of temporarily. It's an older hospital, not quite up to… well, it sucks, but I'm doing what I can until the clinic's finished. Kids can't wait." She unlocked his door and climbed into the driver's seat. "Buckle up. Driving through town can be… interesting."

Though Karev's language skills were more along her level – stumbling but enthusiastic – he adapted quickly to the work they were doing. Even with a language barrier sometimes in place, he bonded well with the kids, and she worked with him to smooth the edges of his behavior around the parents.

The clinic was completed by mid-March, and the school soon after, so they moved outside the city to their new location in rural Malawi, a few hundred miles from the border and midway between the Red Cross refugee camps and the nearest city, on the edge of a moderately sized farming village. Housing for the staff was attached to the clinic, and Arizona and Alex decided to continue sharing a small two bedroom apartment, the one set aside in the plans for the permanent clinic director's family.

Like an overprotective brother, Alex didn't leave Arizona alone except to go to the bathroom or when they were safe in their locked apartment. But his surgical skills flourished under her tutelage, and for awhile they were content, functioning, if not happy. He jumped into his new residency with abandon, even the overwhelming amount of paperwork he helped Arizona with, and kept his mentor going by making sure she ate regular meals and drank enough water, which she tended to forget between work and ongoing grief.

When the reality of her breakup with Callie overwhelmed her six months to the day after their fight at Sea-Tac, Alex tucked her into bed, and told everyone that she was sick. That night he made dinner and set a roll of toilet paper by her bedside in lieu of tissues.

X-X-X-X

Callie sighted her prey down the hall. With fluid movements, she grabbed the other surgeon's arm and forcefully directed them into the nearest on-call room.

"Hey, Lexie, we need to talk," she said, shutting and locking the door behind them. At the three month mark, she was just starting to show, and though Mark had been sworn to secrecy until out of the first trimester, the plastic surgeon was practically strutting in the halls.

"Sure, Callie," the younger woman replied. The two had been friends, once, but the stress on their friendship from Lexie's split with Mark had kept them apart since.

"Look, it was a mistake, but I got really drunk one night after… after Arizona left." Lexie nodded. The stories of that night of drinking at Joe's had made their rounds of the hospital. April had tended a smashed Bailey and Altman's drunkenness had been hysterical according to Meredith. "And I ended up sleeping with Mark."

Callie let the other woman absorb her statement. "And I'm sorry, but I got knocked up. I hit the three month mark yesterday, and I wanted to come clean with you before you heard it from a nurse or something. Mark and I are not together, in fact, I'm kind of barely speaking to him right now, but you deserved to hear it from the source. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Lexie pulled her arms around her torso, and nodded. "I'm not with Mark, Callie, it's fine," she said.

"Yeah, I know. But you want to be. Which, honestly, I would advise against. He's being a douche right now. I just… you're a good friend, Lexie, and I don't want this to screw us up." She thought of the mornings when she'd cook breakfast for all four of them, a strange little almost-family. Callie liked the younger woman, thought she was great for Mark, even if Mark wasn't the best for her.

The other woman nodded, clearly still in a state of shock. She raised her head, meeting Callie's gaze. "Why'd you keep it? If you're not with Mark, if you don't want to raise a kid with him?" The question was honestly curious, not accusing.

Callie laughed bitterly. "I've brought more friends to Planned Parenthood than I want to think about. I've held their hands and never judged and sometimes even paid for it. I believe in a woman's right to choose. But it was never a choice for me. Too many years of Catholic school or something. I mean, I might be single, but I'm not… I've got the money as an attending, and the support system, and I know this kills any chance of Arizona ever forgiving me for… a lot of things, if she ever comes back." Callie let out a little, involuntary sob at that. "But I can support a baby, I like kids, I wanted my own - though not this way, and so far it's healthy, so, here I am. Stuck with Mark as the baby daddy for the next eighteen years or so."

Lexie nodded. It was a personal choice, and she could understand, if not agree, with Callie's position. "It's okay, Callie. And... well, I'm not sure if congratulations are in order, but I know you'll be a great mom." She smiled a little stiffly, obviously processing. "And I think we'll be okay."

"Thanks, Little Grey," Callie smiled back sadly.

X-X-X-X

Two weeks after spending the day in bed, crying, Arizona oversaw the transfer of several patients from a local orphanage to her clinic. The battered bus was full of a mix of children needing everything from basic inoculations to major surgery, as well as a handful of orphanage workers. As the workers and her own staff slowly unloaded the passengers onto stretchers or wheelchairs, she watched closely as Alex took lead on organizing everyone. She found her attention drawn to a screaming baby, no more than six months old. The orphanage worker rocked the little girl to soothe her, but wore the long-suffering look of an adult who knew what they were doing was fruitless in the face of a baby's unhappiness.

Arizona stepped over to her, offering with a gesture to take the little one into her arms. With a relieved sigh, the worker handed the girl over, along with the paperwork she carried on the child's behalf, before returning to the bus to help another of her charges.

"Hello, little one," Arizona soothed, as the girl settled into her arms. Tears continued to stream down her tiny face, but her sobs quieted in Arizona's embrace. Glancing down quickly at the paperwork, she smiled brightly - honestly - at the little girl, the action unfamiliar after so long, "Moni, Zola. It's very nice to meet you." With the baby relaxing in her arms, she stepped back to continue monitoring the rest of the activity around them.

She'd sent Karev to the orphanage a few days beforehand, to do as much organizing as possible, and offer up preliminary diagnoses to help with setting up what amounted to triage at the clinic. Amongst the paperwork in her hand, Arizona saw that Alex thought Zola might have spina bifida. She cursed internally – they had just received their first shipment of latex-free supplies, two months behind schedule, but hadn't everything needed quite yet to hopefully avoid what was a common allergic reaction in children with the condition. She'd have to call and try to rush the next order.

"Karev!" she called, nodding him over to her side.

"Yeah, boss?" he grunted, a toddler quite happily in his arms and playing with his stethoscope.

"You set up any latex-free rooms for these kids?"

"Oh, for Zola, you mean? Yeah, but we're gonna need more supplies soon," he grinned at the little girl curled in Arizona's embrace. "She's the highest priority for latex-free at the moment. Any rashes on her from my gloves? She was fine while I was there…"

"Not that I'm noticing, but let's not risk it," Arizona grinned, pleased at her protégé's comprehensive work and attention to detail. Latex-free hospital rooms for spina bifida patients were the norm on her peds floor in Seattle, due to how common the allergy was, and she was pleased to see he'd taken that instruction to heart.

One of the orphanage workers, a small child in his arms, stopped by Arizona as she rocked Zola, "That baby, she's always crying. I've never seen her stop like that." He grinned, and then followed the other workers and patients into the clinic.

"Huh. Guess you like me, huh, big girl?" Arizona said, getting a gummy smile in return. "Well, I like you too."

_to be continued_...


	2. Chapter 2

Commitment Chapter 2

A/N: This chapter fought me every step of the way, which was surprising. Also, I have never been to Seattle. Please forgive any egregious errors in the name of my ignorance and/or creativity, whichever works for you.

X-X-X-X

Between consults, Callie checked her email and swore softly.

"Callie?" April asked from her side.

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Callie knew her protégé wasn't terribly fond of profanity and as she didn't want her child's first words to be curses, she tried to curb her sailor's mouth as much as possible.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that my supposed best friend-slash-birth coach-slash-baby daddy can't behave," she growled. Spotting Mark at the nurses station, flirting lightly with a drug rep, she stomped over to him, having to grab April's arm briefly to rebalance herself. Five months into her pregnancy, her center of gravity seemed to shift every day. "Sloan! Leave her!" she glared. Dragging him off to the side, April loitering uncomfortably behind her, Callie slapped his chest to get his attention off the drug reps' assets. "Pay attention! You are fired as my birthing coach!"

"Wait, what?! I'm the father, that's my job!"

"I got an email from the teacher. Women have complained you either leered at them repeatedly or actually hit on them. You can't go back."

"So what? We'll find another class."

"Mark! This is the best one in the city! And they are willing to work around us possibly missing classes because of surgery! We were taking it early so we could make up whatever we missed before my due date! I'm not finding another class! You can read a book or something, because two classes in _your_ behavior got _you_ kicked out, not me!"

"Who the hell are you going to bring with you, then? Virgin Mary over there?" Mark gestured sharply at April.

"I don't know, but it sure as hell won't be you! God, Mark, you couldn't keep it in your pants for a freaking _childbirth class_! Grow up!"

Striding off, April following hurriedly behind her, Callie tried to control her feelings. Her friendship with Mark was straining beyond repair, she had to find a new childbirth coach to go with her to class and for the actual labor, and she really wanted a big cup of coffee, with two shots of espresso. Halfway down the hall, she heard Mark shout, "I'm the father, it's my job!" after her.

"As if one particularly adventurous sperm makes you a parent," she snorted.

X-X-X-X

Arizona, slightly detached from what she was seeing, knew the dream was going to torment her. It always did, since Sea-Tac. She'd had it a few times before, after the shooting, but then it had been almost something to look forward to.

The apartment was different – the furniture in a slightly odd arrangement, new paint on the walls. Toys were scattered on side tables and the breakfast bar.

She knew this dream, her conscious mind whispered, but she shoved that thought down as her dream self relaxed at the illusion of being _home_. _Home,_ her heart whispered to her, _home with Calliope._ A sound captured her attention from what used to be Cristina's room. Once Yang had moved out, they'd turned it into a storage/guest room. She walked in. The furniture was completely different. There was a soft plush red chair. A changing table. A wicker elephant-shaped diaper can. A crib. Colorful decorations were scattered across the stark concrete walls and there was a throw rug on the hardwood floor.

She heard the sound again. Moving closer, she saw a baby in a neutral yellow onesie in the crib. Dark skin, only a shade lighter than Callie's. Adorable pudgy cheeks. Dark brown eyes. The smile that stretched across her face felt completely natural, normal.

"Well hello there," she said, picking up the infant and cuddling close. The infant gurgled, relaxing a tiny body into her embrace.

The dream fast-forwarded, the infant growing into a toddler before her eyes. In the dream state, she didn't find this odd. In adorable little jeans and a tshirt, the child ran around the apartment, a small purple Matchbox car in hand, making "vroom vroom" noises. Arizona smiled. Everything felt perfect.

The toddler ran to her, hands stretching sky-high in a silent plea to be picked up. "Of course, baby," she said, settling the child comfortably on her hip. The child offered the purple car to her, and she accepted it, pressing a kiss to a chubby cheek. "Why, how did you know I wanted a purple car?" Laughing softly, she swayed as she settled the child in a high chair. The dream continued, a perfectly mundane day of play time and a toddler-friendly lunch. As she started to wake, and the dream slipped away, Arizona grasped at it all the harder.

She woke up with tears on her cheeks, already missing the child's laughter and the familiarity of apartment 502.

X-X-X-X

Stepping out of a long emergency surgery, Callie leaned gently against the sink. Beside her, April slumped as she scrubbed her hands. Glancing over at her protégé, Callie shook her head, "I know it's the end of your shift, too. You're not driving home like that, are you? You can either stay on my couch, or at the hospital, but you're not driving yourself anywhere."

With grateful, exhausted eyes, April simply nodded.

The door swung open behind them, Addison coming in with two large bottles of water. "Hello, ladies. Now drink, you're probably dehydrated."

Callie grimaced but accepted the bottle shoved in her face, "Sorry I couldn't pick you up, Addie. This guy… ugh. Motorcycles."

"It's fine. I left my bags in the attendings' lounge and did a couple consults for Fields. I entertained myself just fine."

"I'll get you another key made, though I can't believe you forgot yours," Callie replied between gulps of water.

"I know. Sorry about that. Now, shall we gather up our things and head over?"

"Yeah, yeah. April's crashing on the couch. I'm not letting her drive half-asleep. Be as stupid as the organ donor we just spent ten hours fixing because he couldn't be bothered avoid plowing into a brick wall."

"Which means she can call in the food order." Addison turned to April, whose eyes were half closed as she wandered next to the other two women towards the residents' locker room. "I like vegetable lo mien and any spicy chicken dish."

"Okay," April replied, slurring her words slightly. "What are you craving today, Callie?"

"Hot and sour soup, and egg foo young. Oh and dumplings. And boneless spare ribs," the two redheads could hear Callie's stomach growl, exchanging grins behind her back. "God, I want wine."

"Well I picked up a particularly nice sparkling cider on my way here from the airport, so you'll have to make do with that."

"You are a wonder, Addie."

"I am, aren't I?"

Ten minutes later found the three women – two half-asleep in rumpled clothes and one carrying a rather substantial suitcase – walking out the front doors of Seattle Grace. April slurred their order into her phone, hanging up shortly to mutter, "About half an hour, they said. If I'm not conscious, my wallet's in my purse."

"You may not be pregnant, but you've got to eat too. I'll poke you awake," Callie yawned.

"We'll all go to sleep early tonight. I'm dragging you both out for your day off," Addison declared, wearing a bright grin.

"Dragging us where?" Callie asked suspiciously. It was not like Addison to be so… cheery.

"Tomorrow is Seattle Pride. And I know you were excited to go… umm.. before. So we'll go, all three of us."

"Addie…" Callie glared. She had been excited – last year. Before she and Arizona broke up over babies. She had been excited again at the thought in the fall, something to do as a couple, before Arizona left her for Malawi. For a country and its tiny sick humans.

"You're not suddenly straight, you want to go, it's been _ages_ since I saw one in New York, and I'm sure it would broaden April's horizons."

April laughed softly, "Well I haven't been to Seattle's, but I went every year in undergrad. And my first year of med school." The two older women stopped dead in their tracks, directly in front of Callie's building, and stared at her. She rolled her eyes at them, and held the door open. "I was planning on going; my friend Dev's in the parade this year. But I didn't have anybody to go with, and it's more fun with people."

They continued to stare at her as they jolted themselves into moving. Addison cleared her throat. "Well, I have reservations at a second-floor café that overlooks the parade route, and then we can follow everyone down the road afterwards."

Callie laughed, "Parade-viewing in style. Only a Montgomery!"

"I might be tall, but I don't want to peer over the unwashed masses if I don't have to," Addison joked.

"I'm the shortest, trust me, I like this idea, Doctor Montgomery," April said, leaning against the wall of the elevator.

X-X-X-X

As she had for the past month, Arizona ended their morning rounds in Zola's room. Done with her first round of surgeries for her spina bifida and hydrocephalus, the tiny girl was fitted with a shunt to help with fluid build up. The orphanage didn't have the staff or expertise to deal with her medical needs, so Zola would stay at the clinic for at least the next few months.

Checking the girl's shunt, Arizona talked nonstop to Zola, a soothing voice much more important than the words as she explained everything she was doing. Shunt checked and in proper working order, she settled into the room's single chair, Zola cuddled to her chest. As she dictated orders to and brainstormed with Karev, who sprawled on the floor, she rocked the tiny girl back and forth.

In Zola's room, Arizona's depression mostly lifted, becoming a fog instead of a lead curtain. Instead of thinking about what she left behind in Seattle, instead of the constant replay of her fight with Callie in Sea-Tac, instead of the thought of a future without the woman she had wanted to propose to – someday, instead of all the dark thoughts that had swirled in her mind for months, her concentration was instead on the solid, warm weight of the baby in her arms, on her present life, and the future. Zola gurgled happily, her tiny chubby fingers pressed against Arizona's collarbone, her head tucked under Arizona's chin.

Her voice soft and quiet as she spoke with her protégé, she felt her face break into a smile, completely out of her control.

X-X-X-X

Promptly at eight in the morning, April woke to her phone's alarm. Groaning, she rolled herself off the couch and into the nursery's bath where, with the toiletries she'd left behind the last time she'd fallen asleep at Callie's, she showered and dressed. Having a mentor who lived across from the hospital was quite a boon for her, and she always showed her thanks. Stumbling to the kitchen, she quietly pulled out pans and ingredients. Callie loved breakfast but hated making it – preferring to cook dinner or bake a dessert.

Forty-five minutes later, the smell of fresh-brewed coffee dragged Callie and Addison from the main bedroom, hair tousled and eyes bloodshot. April set two mugs of coffee on the breakfast bar, Callie's already prepared so her mentor could suck it down, and Addison's next to the sugar and cream waiting for her. "Thanks," grumbled Callie as she settled down in a chair.

"No problem. Waffles this morning, okay?"

"Sure." A little more aware with a few gulps of caffeine, "Did you make that strawberry thing?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, you had the ingredients."

"Totally worth it to make sure I do," Callie grinned. "Addie, you'll love this."

Addison grunted as she took her first sip of coffee.

April smiled – she had crashed on Callie's couch several times lately, but never before while Addison was making her monthly visit to see Callie and act as her obstetrician. The older redhead was, unbelievably, even more grumpy in the morning. "Here, waffles with very berry sauce, my grandma's recipe."

Addison perked up at the plate shoved under her face, made an uncoordinated grab for the fork April offered, and began eating. A few minutes later, with her plate nearly licked clean, she turned to Callie, "If she's half as good a surgeon as she is a cook, you two will have your own Harper Averys in five years."

Callie laughed as April blushed. "I'm trying to convince her to work with me on my synthetic cartilage. But she keeps saying it's not fair to start the work with me if she won't get offered the fellowship."

Addison stared down the younger surgeon, "I wouldn't worry about that. They know talent when they see it, and the two of you together could revolutionize orthopedic surgery. And if you think I'm basing my idea of your surgical skill on this admittedly great food, you should know how much Callie has been talking about how you are in her OR. And how nice it is to teach someone who appreciates what she has to say."

Callie glared at her old friend, "You don't tell the residents how good they are, Adds! Dammit!"

"You do when they don't believe in themselves," Addison replied. "Now, are there any more waffles?"

April, blushing to her roots, nodded and slid the plate over.

X-X-X-X

Addison and Callie watched from their seats in the café as April appeared below them outside and ran up to her tall friend, jumping into Dev's arms and visibly squealing with delight as the group Dev was marching with continued down the road.

"Look at you being all mentor-y, Cal," Addison said softly, approvingly.

"Well, she just really needed someone in her corner. A little support, confidence. And it's worth it. You should see her in surgery."

"I look forward to it, actually. How's her pediatric experience?"

"It's what she was thinking of going into before she joined the ranks of ortho nerds, actually."

"Neonatal?"

"Not something she's done a lot. And honestly I haven't done it much either with you gone. Seattle Grace's neonatal department is not what it used to be."

"I know." The two women watched as April and Dev chattered happily at each other, hands clasped, walking away from them. "Ex?"

"Old college friend."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"We'll see how that goes if she ever meets her Erica."

Callie almost _growled_ at the mention of her first girlfriend.

"So… how's therapy going?"

Callie raised an eyebrow and turned to glare lightly at her best friend. "It's going. You pushed me into it, but it's going."

"Average number of nights you cry yourself to sleep per week now?"

"Addie!"

"Cal!"

She huffed, "Two, maybe three, I guess. It's a process!"

"Keep working on that process, Cal. You can't bring a child into the world when you're hurting so much. It can't be good for either of you."

"I know. It's not _every_ night now, dammit."

They were silent for a few minutes, watching the last of the parade go by, the crowd starting to flow after the last floats. Addison paid their bill and they headed down to the street. The pair of them slid into the crowd carefully, Addison using her body and the folding camp chair she carried to shield Callie from any accidental knocks.

"You'll be a great mom, you know."

Callie's voice was almost indistinguishable in the happy, boisterous crowd surrounding them, "I wish I was becoming a mother with _her_."

Addie sighed. The emphasis on 'her' was unmistakable. The name was never spoken, the pictures tucked away in a box under Callie's bed alongside a heart-shaped necklace. But she could still feel Arizona Robbins' absence like a giant hole in her best friend's life. It was gaping, raw, bloody. The baby was a balm to her friend's soul, if not conceived in a way Callie would ever have chosen, and mentoring April Kepner helped, but she wondered if Callie would ever truly recover from losing Arizona. At first incredibly angry with the woman, she had softened over the past few months, as Callie shared the insights she'd gained from therapy. How they had both contributed to their breakup, how they had both made so many mistakes in their relationship. How Callie still loved her, deeply, as much as she was angry and hurt.

As they reached the small park where a stage was set up, and the edges of the park were lined with booths where rainbow-colored wares were hocked and various organizations offered up their services, Addison moved them carefully through the milling crowd towards the shade of a small tree. As most people were still meandering through the booths, she was able to grab enough space to set down the chair for Callie, and a large blanket for herself and April – once the latter returned from seeing her friend. Callie settled with a grateful "oof" into her seat, and Addison settled herself comfortably on the blanket, kicking off her stylish boots.

"I probably should have worn sneakers," she remarked, rubbing her feet.

"I'm just glad I can still see my feet to put on my sneakers," Callie remarked, pulling a water bottle from her bag and taking a drink.

"Not for much longer."

"Addie…" Callie sighed, looking at her friend, amusement and sympathy warring in her eyes. She fiddled with her water bottle, worrying the paper label with her fingernail. "I'm sorry if this is hard, for you, but I'm so grateful you're with me through this."

Addison took a deep breath, meeting Callie's eyes. "I can't say it's the easiest thing I've ever done, Cal, but I will _always_ be here for you. You should know that by now."

"I know, I know, but between the trouble you're having with… with getting pregnant, and the whole Mark thing…" She shook her head, the word vomit she was famous for not quite making it out past her lips.

"Cal… I'm sorry he's being such a… an immature jerk through all this. I thought he'd step up." Addison's voice was soft, angry, confused.

"I thought he would too. God, he was so different the past couple years. Was mature. Well, for him. He wasn't perfect, but…"

"He had someone competing for your time and attention. Someone who didn't like him, from what I hear," Addie said simply. "He's always at his best when that happens. When I was still married to Derek, he was attentive and charming and… when I wasn't? He tried, but not as hard. With you it's different. He isn't in love with you."

"He claims he's in love with Little Grey. But Bailey found him banging one of his new scrub nurses in a supply closet last week."

"How'd you hear about that?"

"I was down the hall when she started yelling about how nasty he was," Callie laughed. She couldn't help it. The poor nurse had been mortified while Mark had stood there somewhat flabbergasted, his scrub pants hanging loosely from his hips as they tented over a visible erection that quickly fizzled under Bailey's glare and shouting.

Addison rubbed a hand over her face, "He's a child. A horny, horny child."

"Little Grey barely speaks to him anymore." Callie shook her head.

"So much for true love, huh?"

"I don't know if I believe in true love anymore," Callie murmured, shifting her attention to the stage as the MC came to the microphone. The MC was a tall, gorgeous drag queen done up in tight shiny pants, a deep-necked flimsy shirt, and a large bouffant wig with a rainbow boa draped over her shoulders. Soon, the crowd roared at her lip-sync number, the bass shaking the ground as Cher's "Believe" blasted out of the speakers.

"I think the crowd disagrees with you, Cal," Addison said softly, patting her friend on the knee.

"I wish I disagreed with me too," she replied, sighing.

Halfway into the first band's act, April arrived, settling herself next to Addison with a big grin, her mouth full and offering both women their own plates of fried dough coated in sugar. "I couldn't resist!" she said, after swallowing.

With smiles all around, the three woman dug in. Despite all the things weighing down their lives, it was a beautiful day and they would enjoy it.

X-X-X-X

Arizona felt herself slip into dreaming. She wasn't sure where the semi-lucid dreaming came from, but she loved what she called the might-have-been dreams, as much as they hurt.

The little child was older, running around her and Callie's old apartment with a toddler version of Zola. The detached part of her consciousness gasped at Zola's presence, but the little girl was unmistakable, wearing overalls and a tiny Rat City Rollergirls shirt. The two children played together comfortably, smiling and happy. She watched over them with a sense of peace she rarely felt anymore suffusing her mind.

The door to the apartment slammed open. The two children startled, rushing to cling to Arizona's legs in their fright. "Hey, kiddo!" Mark shouted from the doorway. Arizona felt little hands tighten in the fabric of her jeans. "Time for Blondie and Zola to head out." She saw his eyes drop to her chest, as he had so often before, a smirk on his face.

Arizona's eyes moved to Callie, standing silent behind Mark, but the brunette was stone-faced. "Okay." She carefully disentangled the two kids from her legs, dropping her to her knees to offer Callie's child a gentle hug. She turned to Zola, lifting the girl into her arms as she stood.

Callie moved into the apartment, pulling her child up into her arms. Arizona managed a half-smile as she grabbed her purse from the breakfast bar and walked out the door. She could hear the child start to cry from the hall, and felt tears start down her face.

Zola, perched contentedly in her arms, patted her cheek, and said in a soft toddler voice, "Luv you momma."

Arizona felt her heart break and then heal itself in the space of a moment as she hugged Zola closer. "I love you too, big girl."

The dream faded around her as her dream self entered the elevator. The last thing she could sense was toddler Zola's body in her embrace.

She hadn't wanted children for so long. Especially hadn't wanted a child that could end up in her NICU. And yet she couldn't deny it any longer, even in her dreams – she was falling in love with a child she first _met_ in her NICU. She had changed her dreams for Callie Torres and now Zola was changing – saving – those dreams even as the rest of her personal life had crumbled to dust. Her life with Callie was over – they'd exchanged only a handful of terse emails since Sea-Tac and beyond that there was only radio silence. But the dreams of being a mother, first appearing in her mid-30's, those she could still save, along with the little girl that needed a home.

Still in her pajamas, she booted up her laptop and quietly looked up the requirements to adopt in Malawi. She was a resident of the country – at least for the next two and a quarter years. That helped. She investigated further.

X-X-X-X

"What's up, boss?" Alex said as he closed the apartment door behind him.

She looked up at him blankly, marshalling her thoughts. "I'm trying to talk myself out of something," she replied, half joking, half serious.

"What is it?" He crossed his arms, hopping up on their dining table.

"Adopting Zola," she replied softly.

His eyes widened. The fight between Robbins and Torres about babies had been quickly elevated to Seattle Grace legend in their circle. He'd been rooting for Robbins to get her head out of her ass about it the entire time. Alex Karev understood kids, and knew his boss would be a great parent if she could just manage to get over herself, her fears, or deal with whatever kept her from even considering motherhood. But he always thought she'd do it with Torres, not single and in Africa, at least until she got attached to an orphaned baby in the NICU. "Don't worry, I won't tell them you're a lesbian when they come for the home visit," he snarked at her, grinning. If this could pull Robbins out of her funk, and give a kid a good home at the same time, he was all for it. Even if he was going to be woken up in the middle of the night by a screaming infant soon.

"But I'm single! And gay! And in Malawi! I live with you," she gestured randomly at him. "Where on earth would we even put her?"

"There's enough room for a crib in with you. We put the changing table in the corner over there," he gestured at an empty section of their mostly barren living area, "and that's it."

She studied him carefully, that calculating gaze that always made him slightly uneasy. "You'd be okay with it? Sharing living space with a screaming, pooping infant who will wake you up in the middle of the night for no discernable reason? Because _I'm_ not even sure I'm ready for it."

"Robbins, yes, shut up. She's your kid, dammit. I've seen you with her. You're both so happy when you're together I wanna puke. You just gotta make them recognize it. Buy me some earplugs and we'll be all set."

Sitting back in her chair, she let a smile overtake her face. "You're a good man, Karev."

His cheeks burning, Alex stomped over to their kitchenette. "Whatever, dude."

X-X-X-X

April strapped herself into the driver's seat of her car. A conveniently scheduled afternoon off for both her and her mentor meant a trip to the airport to pick up Addison for her monthly visit to Seattle. The routine of the past eight months had settled down into Addison arriving every four weeks to not only do the most in depth of exams as she monitored Callie's pregnancy, but to offer consults for other patients at Seattle Grace.

Callie's appointment was not until the next day, so the three women would spend the evening together, a pleasure April had not expected when she'd approached Callie in the x-ray room to request Callie allow her on her service. But when Callie Torres opened up, she opened up both her personal and professional lives. Fresh out of an extended shift (Addison would not be pleased) due to several car accidents that had demanded all of their combined skill, April was wide awake but Callie drifted off beside her, strapped in and snoozing gently as they made their way towards Sea-Tac.

Until there was the screech of horns, and a loud crash as she felt them being pushed to her left. As her head impacted with the side of her car door's frame, April knew no more.

tbc…


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Much gratitude to all who are following/favoriting/commenting on this story (as well as an apology for this update taking so long). I am honestly surprised, as I expected people to hate either the direction I am going with it or how I portray certain characters. This is only my second story, and first Grey's fic, to hit more than 100 followers. My humble thanks to you. This chapter includes some direct quotes from Grey's canon, as well as other lines adapted to this story's needs.

X-X-X-X

Teddy Altman stared at her phone. The email displayed thereon shocked her. Well, most of it was the norm for her email exchanges with Arizona – interesting cases, hospital gossip, general chitchat. She was surprised she was even still getting the emails, nine months into Arizona's time in Malawi. Her friend had literally said she didn't stay in touch with many friends from her past when questioned about it – a result of growing up a Marine brat and moving so frequently. Teddy knew Arizona had one or two friends from her "horror show" days at Hopkins, one friend from childhood she spoke of glowingly, and a handful of casual friends from her undergrad and med school years, but generally, when Arizona moved, she let her ties to wherever she left drift off into the sunset. That nine months after ripping her heart out in Sea-Tac she was still in contact with Teddy, Bailey, and had rescued Karev from Stark's joke of a peds department, was a minor miracle Teddy was incredibly thankful for.

Even if she could have gotten Arizona back. If only she'd not told her friend the truth about that night at Joe's. If only, if only, the woman might have come back to a knocked up ex and the mess would be even worse. She sighed. But even the emotional carnage of the Callie-Arizona breakup couldn't explain, to her at least, why the woman who had somehow become her closest friend wanted her to be a reference as Arizona tried to adopt a baby.

She continued to stare at her phone. Until a small hand waved in front of her face, and she ripped her attention away from the email boggling her mind and redirected it towards Miranda Bailey, who was looking at her with an amused smirk.

"I guess you got the same… unusual email from one of our lost lambs that I did this morning, huh?" the shorter woman said, shaking her head.

Glancing around to make sure the lounge was empty, Teddy nodded. The two women had bonded from sharing Arizona as a long-distance friend. Where Teddy used to share coffee and chat with a shorter blonde, now she shared it with Bailey regularly, when not dragged into a conversation with the unusual combination of Torres and Kepner.

"I have no idea what she's thinking, trying to adopt in Malawi," Bailey continued. "I'll help her, don't get me wrong, but she broke up with Torres over not wanting babies and now she's basically gone and found one right as Torres is about to pop out Sloan spawn?" She clucked her tongue, "Are you worried?"

Teddy stretched her face into a sad smile, "A bit, yeah. I'll ask, we're scheduled to talk on Skype tomorrow night. If she wants me to lie about her sexual orientation to the government of Malawi, the least she can do is explain what the hell is going on in that mind of hers."

Miranda laughed, opening her mouth to speak as both their pagers screeched. "911 to the pit. You too?" Nodding, Teddy rose from her chair and the two of them bolted out towards the emergency room.

X-X-X-X

April felt the jolt in her bones. One moment she was driving herself and Callie to the airport to pick up Addison Montgomery and the next her head was pounding, blood dribbling into her eyes, ribs hurting, and her airbag deployed in front of her. She gasped, looking over to her mentor and friend. Callie, taller than her, had hit her head even harder and more awkwardly on the windshield of April's old Focus. She was unconscious, blood covering most of her face. April spurred herself into action. With one hand she fished out her cell phone, dialing for an ambulance, while with the other she first checked Callie's pulse – strong – and then laid a gentle hand on Callie's prominent baby belly, just barely seven months along. A solid kick met her fingers and she sighed in relief, even as she directed the ambulance to their location. As she clambered into the back with a stretchered Callie ten minutes later, she made a quick call to Addison's voicemail, instructing the other woman to get a cab as quickly as possible once her plane landed at Sea-Tac which, checking her watch, should have been five minutes ago.

Time passed in a blur for April as she rattled off Callie's condition to the group of surgeons that met them outside the ER. Single-mindedly following Callie's gurney into the trauma room, she watched as Lucy Fields set up the fetal heart monitor and ultrasound, quickly checking for a heartbeat and the condition of the placenta before a hyper-focused Addison Montgomery rushed in, dumping her suitcases by the door before taking over for Fields, who bowed out to the world renowned surgeon's expertise. She felt a rough hand on her arm, pulling her into the doorway.

"What the hell happened?" demanded Mark.

"I don't know! We were heading to the airport and a truck came out of nowhere!" April replied, grabbing a trauma gown from a nearby supply cart. She tore herself from Mark's grasp, moving forward to assist with the portable x-ray a nurse had just rolled into the room.

Owen glanced up at her, seeing the smears of blood over her face, "Get out of here, Kepner. Get that head lac looked at and I want you to get a CT," he ordered. "Little Grey, check her out."

April resisted for a moment, which let the pounding of her head take over her awareness. Lexie pulled her gently out of the room, past Mark's angry glare, and towards a trauma bay.

X-X-X-X

Lexie Grey carefully led her friend towards CT. With the blood on her face, and her cuts sluggishly bleeding, April's pale features stood out even more. Tears silently made their way down her cheeks and her breath was stressed.

"April," Lexie said softly, "April, you need to breathe. Okay? Just breathe. In and out." She studied her friend worriedly. There was an underlying panic there that she had rarely seen before.

"I… I almost killed her! Them!" the words were high-pitched, breathless.

"No! No, listen to me," Lexie shook her friend, stepping directly into her line of sight and forcing their eyes to meet. "Some asshole in a truck did. You can't control what other people do, and you got her here as fast as you could. You did everything right in a horrible situation. Just breathe, April, please, just breathe."

A sob tore through April's chest, and she began to hyperventilate. Luckily, they were next to a supply cart and a bag to breathe into was easily available. Shaking it open, Lexie pressed it against her friend's mouth, wrapped an arm around April's shoulders to steady her. As soon as her breathing was under control, April turned to burrow into her friend's embrace. They stood, silent in the hall, for several minutes while April regained control of her emotions.

"CT?" she hiccupped eventually.

"Yup, and I want to patch up that nasty cut on your forehead, too," Lexie smiled, leading April along the hall.

Half an hour later she was back, in clean scrubs, to check on her mentor as Addison kept watch in the ICU over a sedated Callie with a temporarily closed abdomen. Addison met her worried gaze with a warm if strained smile. She held out the chart to April, letting the younger doctor take in what had happened after she'd been escorted from the trauma room. Lexie hovered by the door, watching over them.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry. But don't worry, we got this," Addison murmured, stroking her best friend's cheek. "We'll take care of you." She looked up as April finished skimming the chart, hugging herself in a dismal attempt at self-soothing.

"We took my car because the Thunderbird only has lap belts," she said softly. "But the thing is a tank. My tiny car was totaled and we were both knocked around when we were hit. The T-bird would have shrugged that off like nothing."

Addison sighed. The situation was dire, but at least the baby had avoided any serious issues as far as they could tell. The problems for Callie were the abdominal damage done by the restraining belt and the brain bleeds hitting her head on the car's frame had caused. "You did the best you could, April," she replied quietly. "The baby is fine, and we'll take care of Callie. If we have to take the baby early to make it easier on Cal, she's at a good weight and stage to do it, and I've already given steroids just in case. Not perfect, but good enough. Certainly better than if it had happened earlier."

Outside the ICU room, the three women could hear Bailey explaining Callie's current situation to Mark, detailing the strain on her cardiovascular system. "Why are we even talking about the baby?" they heard, all their ears honing in at his words. "We give Callie the best shot we can, no matter what."

"Callie wants to carry her baby to term," Addison said, stepping out of the ICU room to join the conversation.

"Callie wants to live," Mark retorted at his ex.

"It's not an either-or situation, Doctor Sloan, not at this point in her pregnancy," April piped up, standing shoulder to shoulder with Addison.

"Why are you even talking? You're not making this decision. You're the one who got her into this mess!" he snapped angrily.

April recoiled, stepping back unconsciously until she felt Lexie's hand settle lightly between her shoulderblades.

"A truck running a red light got her into this mess, not April, so shut up. And I'm the one making this decision," Addison glared.

"You! You never wanted my baby before, so why the hell should you get a say in what happens to this one?!" Mark steamed. "Are you going to kill this one too?"

"She's Callie's Emergency Contact and has power of attorney," April said, letting Lexie and Addison's silent support strengthen her shaky voice. Her head had barely stopped pounding, while a potent mix of guilt and stress ate her alive. But she remembered helping Callie set up the paperwork only a few weeks earlier after the reality of her mentor having no family she'd trust – or was even speaking to, nor a girlfriend, available to list on the yearly update required of their E.C.'s at SGMW. She'd even been there for the conversation, and Addison's lawyer had set up the power of attorney paperwork, as well as a will, for her friend. Several of the baby books had suggested various legal steps and Callie had done everything possible to protect herself and her unborn child.

"And the baby is at the seventh month point. She has a 96% chance of surviving delivery right now. Of course we'd like to improve that, but Callie would also like to live to meet her child. A scheduled C-section would let us repair the damage to Callie's body, and the baby would have a great chance," Addison stated calmly. "The ultrasound didn't show any damage to the baby. Two months early isn't bad if it means she gets to meet her mother." The calm doctor disappeared for a second, her eyes flashing with fire, "And don't you dare bring up our past. I want what's best for Callie _and_ her baby, that's it."

"You don't get to make decisions about my baby, Addison! This is my baby, I'm the father!" He pointed at her, "You're nothing, you hear! That's my family in there! I'm the father! You don't give a shit about my child! You didn't a shit four years ago and you don't care now!"

Addison sucked in a breath, ignoring April's gentle hand on her arm. "She's my best friend, Mark. And I care a hell of a lot about her baby. _Her_ baby. Which means I will do my damndest to make sure Callie meets her child when she wakes up. Now get the hell out of the ICU. You're disturbing the patients."

"I think you'd better listen to Doctor Montgomery, Sloan," Bailey said, steel in her voice. Flushing red, he stomped out of the unit. "He's going to be trouble," she muttered.

Addison snorted, "He's been trouble since she told him she was pregnant. Having me around just makes it worse." She sighed, "But it is the best plan. We need to take the baby so you can finish repairing the bleeders, Miranda. I wish Karev was still here. I trust him more with this than I do Fields."

"We'll have to make do, since the boy ran off to Africa," Bailey pointed out. "Kepner, I know you did well on your pediatric rotation. Are you feeling well enough to join this little soiree, keep an eye on Fields?"

April nodded, "The painkillers have started to kick in, I'm good."

As soon as she'd finished speaking, the monitors started to blare. Lexie, who had been keeping half an eye on them, shouted, "Her pressure's bottoming out!"

"Call an OR, let them know we're on our way," Addison instructed as she and April started to move Callie's gurney, Lexie and Miranda grabbing the IVs and monitors.

In a mass, doctors moved together towards the OR, scrubbing in and gowning up. If she were asked later to describe the multiple surgeries that occurred, April drew a blank. She knew something had happened with Callie's heart, Teddy jumping in to fix the issue, that Bailey had finally found the abdominal bleeder, that Meredith and Shepherd had had to jump in to repair a just-diagnosed brain bleed, that Addison had carefully done the C-section as frenetic activity swirled around her, but all April concentrated on was the baby, shadowing Fields as the three pound, seven ounce little girl was pulled from her mother's body with a strong heartbeat. After a few moments of suction, and the determination of her Apgar score, Fields moved to hook the slightly squirming baby up to oxygen.

April hovered over the portable incubator, running a gentle finger down a tiny arm and smiling widely when there was reflexive grasping of her finger. She turned, meeting Addison's eyes as the other doctor quickly glanced up to meet her gaze. April nodded, and she could tell there was a wide grin beneath her colleague's mask. "Go with her," Addison said softly, "I'll follow you as soon as I'm done here."

An hour later, April sat collapsed into a chair in the NICU, pink gown in disarray around her tired body. As soon as Addison had finished suturing Callie closed, she'd followed April to the NICU and taken over the baby's care from Fields. With only supplemental oxygen, the baby was doing well, her Apgar rising quickly for a preemie.

The two redheads met each other's eyes, exhaustion lacing both their features. April checked her phone as it beeped, a quick message from Lexie taking up the screen. "Callie's doing well," she murmured. "Bailey's sitting with her for the moment, but I think she was near the end of her shift when we came in; she has to be beat. I should probably take over. Text me with any changes?"

Addison nodded, "I'll keep her company. Was there any further thought on a name?"

April smiled, "She had it down to two, but she wouldn't tell me which. Wanted to tell you first, godmomma. Once she wakes up, we'll know."

Addison looked at the placard at the end of the incubator, which currently read _Baby Girl Torres,_ "What about her head injury? Any news on that?"

"Meredith told Lexie and Bailey that if she wakes up, she should be okay, in time. She might need some physical therapy." A natural optimist, April didn't elaborate on the alternative.

"She'd better. She named me primary guardian in her will, and I don't want to have to fight Mark every second," Addison sighed. "Where'd he disappear to, anyway?"

April shook her head. "I don't know. No one's seen him. And Lexie's angry at him for what he said in the ICU. No one's going to bother checking on him now."

After a soft groan, Addison rubbed her eyes, "He hasn't made any friends the past few months."

"He lost most of them, I think," was April's hesitant reply. "Only Jackson's even sitting with him at lunch now."

"Idiot. Egotistical idiot."

April nodded, dragging herself out of her chair. "I'm going to go now. Maybe I'll stop and get a coffee on the way."

"Shit. Do you know what happened to my luggage?"

At the non sequitur, April laughed. "I had an intern stash them in the attendings' lounge."

"Thanks, April. Cal lucked out to mentor someone like you," Addison smiled.

Blushing, Kepner grinned, stretching before she left the NICU for the ICU.

X-X-X-X

The brain is understood, yet not. Bleeds can be repaired, physical damage fixed, but what makes us who we are, what creates our thoughts and what interprets our senses, remains a mystery in many ways. When Callie Torres smacked her head, hard, on the windshield of her protégé's car, her mind changed things for her. Perhaps her mind wanted to give her a happier story than the one she was living. Or maybe her unconscious was a bitter, cruel bastard taunting her with might-have-beens.

The first thing Callie really noticed was the pain. It was everywhere, all underneath the generous dosage of morphine. The pain was there, but she was so drugged she didn't particularly care.

She drifted between sleep and wakefulness. Her dream had been odd, but in her medicated condition it had made perfect sense. Of course she and Arizona were heading out of town for a weekend away. Of course Arizona proposed just before they were in an accident. Of course she had gone completely through the windshield – even with the morphine she felt like that could be true.

And Arizona _was there_ as her muddled thoughts climbed towards awareness. She had come back. Karev had never followed her to Africa. And they all – all of them, except Cristina who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket – had _sung_. Songs from the radio, songs from her iPod, songs she heard in passing at the grocery store. They had all sung, and it had felt fitting and normal. Maybe that afternoon of watching movie musicals had been a bad idea.

So when she woke, and saw through her blurry vision a dirty blonde ponytail slumped against her bed, of course it was Arizona. All she wanted in that moment was to reply to the question she'd been asked before flying through a windshield. To promise her future to Arizona. To promise her everything to Arizona.

"Yes," she croaked, startling the ponytail's owner. "Yes, I'll marry you."

Teddy Altman grinned sadly, "I'll keep that in mind if my paper husband doesn't work out, Callie. How are you feeling?"

Callie recoiled as she recognized her friend. "Where's Arizona?" she demanded, voice rough and sore.

Teddy shook her head sadly, "In Malawi, honey. Do you know what the date is?" She pulled out a penlight, checking Callie's pupil response carefully.

"July fifteenth," Callie stuttered. "Water?"

"Of course," she slid her flashlight into a pocket before offering Callie a sip of tepid hospital water. "Actually, that was yesterday, Callie. You and April were hit by a truck. Do you remember that?"

"Yes," Callie said, her real memories overtaking the dream slowly. She wanted to shatter into a thousand pieces, but the soreness in her abdomen overrode her grief. "My baby?" she asked, voice high with panic.

"Doing just fine," April offered from the door way. "Her vitals are great and Addison's keeping an eye on her right now." She pulled out her cell, calling up a photo on the screen and letting Callie squint at the image. "Here, she's beautiful."

"Just like her mother," Teddy offered, grinning. "She did a lot better than you did. Had us worried there for awhile, Torres."

X-X-X-X

As she walked out of Seattle Grace, Teddy bumped into Miranda in the parking lot, their cars only a few feet apart.

"Long day," Teddy murmured to her friend.

"You could say that. Or just that it sucked," Bailey countered, shaking her head. She studied her exhausted coworker, "Are you going to tell Robbins what kept you here on your day off?"

Teddy leaned against her car as she fumbled through her purse for the keys. "I don't know," she breathed. "I mean, I don't want to lie, by omission. And she'd want to know."

"It's not like you can tell her everything. This hospital may be staffed by a bunch of children, but we do have doctor-patient confidentiality."

"When she woke up, she thought I was Arizona. She thought Arizona was here, and had _proposed_," Teddy murmured. "She said _yes_, and then freaked out when she realized I wasn't Arizona. I had to tell her what continent her ex-girlfriend is on."

"She had a head injury," Bailey tried to soothe the upset woman before her. "You can't take what she said while coming out of that completely seriously."

Teddy raised one eyebrow at the shorter woman before her, "Have you not been paying attention? I never met her before she was with Arizona. And let me tell you, I see a difference right now. Whatever happened in that airport broke her. She spends her days with Kepner, avoids Sloan, and has this look in her eyes…" She trailed off, unsure how to pinpoint the differences she'd noticed in the past months.

Bailey shook her head, "Kepner's an unlikely protégé, I admit, but you haven't seen them in surgery together as much as I have. Girl has skills, and Torres is making sure she perfects them. They're friends, as strange as that is. And given Sloan's behavior, I'm not surprised she's avoiding him. Man's an ass. And a whore. Not someone you want as the father of your child."

Teddy nodded, "I know, I know. It's just… she's not Callie. She's more… the hardcore badass surgeon person. And maybe that'll change with the baby here. Who knows?"

"I stopped by her room before I left," Bailey said, ignoring that her statement seemed a non sequitur. "Did you hear what she's naming that little girl?" Teddy shook her head. "She decided on Sofia Ruby Torres."

"No Sloan?"

"No Sloan. She's that angry with him."

"Well he did get kicked out of their childbirth classes," Teddy shrugged. She'd sat through more than one uncomfortable lunch with Torres and Kepner in which Callie had ranted about that very fact.

"And do you know where the Ruby comes from? Oh she didn't say it, but I know."

Teddy shook her head again. "No?"

"Ruby was the little girl they operated on in peds, during the shooting," over a year later, and Bailey's voice still caught when she mentioned the shooting. "The one with the burst appendix?"

Teddy nodded, slowly remembering her best friend's vague babbled story of what had happened that horrible day.

"Arizona threw herself over that child when Clark walked into the room. Bodily threw herself over that child."

"Maybe they realized how much they loved each other over that kid," Teddy mused, softly.

Bailey nodded, "And they got back together in the parking lot. Half the hospital saw them. Didn't hear anyone yammering about much else after that."

"Everyone wanted to talk about something good in the middle of all of," she gestured vaguely, "that."

"They did. And now Torres gave that girl's name to her own child. Something that can't be anything but connected to her ex."

"Head injury. You said it yourself."

Bailey grimaced, shaking her head, "No. She'd written it down as what she decided on before they went to pick up Addison. She'd finally decided on Sofia, but apparently Ruby was the middle name contender from the get-go. As soon as she stopped crying over the pregnancy test."

"Shit."

"Exactly."

X-X-X-X-X

Teddy stumbled through her front door, fighting with the sticky lock she kept forgetting to fix. Exhausted, she simply dumped her purse and keys on the counter. Her mind circled around thoughts of Callie, and little Sofia Ruby. She wasn't sure if the name worked, or not. She tasted it on her tongue; it had a good rhythm at least, something she could imagine Callie shouting at a surly teenage version of herself.

And thank god for that – barely out of the womb, still mostly in that vaguely Winston Churchill phase, and already Sofia resembled her mother a bit. She was truly a beautiful baby, even a month early. Teddy sighed, she wouldn't worry about Sofia – that was Addison's job, and something she was doing quite well, basically camping in the NICU until Callie could be there for her daughter.

Stripping off her blouse and jeans as she walked through her apartment, Teddy reached her room just to pull off her bra and slip into her pajamas. Over the past few months, she'd gotten used to the routine of talking with her best friend via skype. It'd been a too-long shift; she just wanted to be comfortable before diving into the undoubtedly intense discussion ahead of her.

Dropping onto her couch with a glass of wine, she booted up her laptop and clicked on the application. The connection noise grated on her nerves until she was able to click on Arizona's little icon.

Within a few seconds, the grainy video feed kicked in and she glimpsed blond hair above a tired smile. "Good connection?" came the static-laced question.

"So far, so good," she replied, grinning back.

Arizona cocked her head, studying the video, "You look tired. Wasn't today your day off?"

"Big trauma. I just got home from my last shift." Teddy hedged as best she could.

"Didn't your shift end midday yesterday?"

"Yup. But I got a very interesting email before that trauma came in, you know." She raised one eyebrow in challenge.

"Interesting? Yes. Are you too tired to interrogate me, Theodora?"

"Not at all, Arizona." Teddy shook her head. She couldn't see the room behind her best friend, and so carefully chose her words, "You broke up your last relationship because you didn't want kids, and now you want to adopt one? Clear this contradiction up for me, okay?"

Arizona leaned back in her chair. "We're in my office, you can say exactly what you want to. And yes, I did. Yes, I do." She took a deep breath. "After the shooting, after we got back together," she choked on her words slightly, the grief still apparent, "I started to look into options. To get used to the idea? I promised her ten kids. If that was what she wanted, I wanted to want it too."

"And you do? Now? In Malawi? Alone?" Teddy couldn't keep the incredulity out of her voice, and didn't try to disguise it.

Her friend laughed, a heaviness behind the sound, "I know, it's insane. Dangerous? I don't know. Maybe it helps that even in the US, she'd be hard to adopt with her medical conditions. I'm a doctor, I can get her the care she needs for as long as she needs it."

"Arizona, what does she have?" Teddy asked lowly, afraid to hear the answer.

"Spina bifida, hydrocephalus, but she's already in treatment for both. The shunt's in to reduce the fluid in her skull, and the neurosurgeon says she'll be ready for her next surgery soon," Arizona rattled off confidently.

"She's in your NICU?"

Arizona shifted in her seat, "Not exactly. You know how I run things for spina bifida patients- she's in a latex-free room near it."

"She's still a NICU patient," Teddy said softly. "Arizona, you aren't her doctor, are you?"

She bit her lip before shaking her head, "Only in the sense that she's in my clinic? I've turned over primary care to Karev."

"Karev?"

"I trust him. You should see how well he's doing here," Arizona defended her protégé.

"Okay. So you want to adopt a sick child in a country hostile to your very existence. Can you see why I'm having trouble figuring this out? You didn't even want kids a couple years ago!"

"Do you know what they say on the adoption message boards?"

Teddy shook her head, curious.

"When you see your baby, you know it. You know it was meant to be. And maybe I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't been here, met her here, coming off the bus from the orphanage screaming her head off until I cuddled her, but I was here. I saw it. She's my baby," Arizona's words were a whisper by the time she finished, tears pooling in bright blue eyes, stubbornly refusing to fall down pale cheeks. "Who would choose this situation? I mean, really? But she's my baby. I'm her mom."

"And this one-eighty about having kids at all?" Teddy pushed, not letting herself show any emotion. "After the shooting, I could think of it as just plain desperation because you need Callie so much, but…"

Arizona shook her head, a hint of anger coloring her words, "I'm not some trauma case, Teddy." She stared at her friend, trying to come up with the words she needed. Instead, a heavy knock at the door diverted both their attentions. With an apologetic glance, Arizona rose to unlock her office door and open it.

With the door open, Teddy could hear soft crying. "Someone didn't want to settle tonight," Karev said gruffly, as she strained to hear over the static-filled connection.

"Ahhh…" she heard from her best friend, "Did you miss me, Zola?" A high-pitched whimper was all she could make out. Seconds later, Arizona appeared in view of the laptop's webcam again, carefully cradling a baby whose head showed signs of a recent surgery. Arizona settled into her chair, rocking the infant as she started to quiet. Teddy sat back, her mind whirling. She'd seen Arizona with babies before, she'd assisted her friend on numerous infant surgeries, helped talk to the distressed parents, so she'd seen Arizona in her "patient/doctor mode" quite a bit. Arizona the doctor was friendly, kind, calm, efficient, gentle. The Arizona she could see on the grainy webcam feed was, obvious over even the internet, glowing. There was a sense of wonder on her face that Teddy had never seen before. Instead of the gloom that had overtaken Arizona since her breakup, she was smiling broadly. She couldn't help but think that Arizona was made to be a mother. Specifically, this little girl's mother. She shook her head. Even a week ago, she wouldn't have believed this change in her best friend.

"I believe you," she said softly, not wanting to startle the dozing baby. "You two look beautiful together, Arizona."

The wide smile on Arizona's face brightened even more. "Thank you, Teddy! You'll have to come visit us, you know. I want Zola to know her godmother."

Unbidden, Teddy blushed. "I'd like that, a lot.

Zola squirmed in her sleep, letting out a quiet murmur. The two women returned their attention to her, a happy silence overtaking them.

X-X-X-X

A/N: Have you ever looked up the different kinds of shunts they put in babies with hydrocephalus? It's pretty amazing stuff. Seattle Children's has a few neat pages showing what they're up to, with some excellent illustrations. I got a kick out of that.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: To answer a guest reviewer, yes, this **is** a Calzona story. It just will take awhile to get there. Also I would like to state I am not a doctor, nurse, or health care professional of any sort. All I know of the field is what I've picked up from the internet, various times relatives have been in the hospital, and my mom's research into 19th century midwifery/obstetrics. I'm pretty light on the medical details so I don't get something horribly wrong; if that method fails, please let me know and I'll try my best to fix it. Also, I know only the bare minimum about Private Practice, so assume it's a major AU for what's going on in LA with Addison. I'm taking some themes I am aware of and little of the actual plot as it happened.

X-X-X-X

After a quarter of an hour spent watching Zola as she slept heavily, she heard Teddy shift her seat. "I can let you go?" she offered softly. "This can't be very interesting to watch."

Teddy shook her head, "No, it's pretty amazing, honestly. And… I have some things I need to talk to you about. Is she asleep enough to be put in her crib?"

Arizona nodded, and waved Karev over from where he'd been standing slumped against the door frame, pressing a soft kiss to the little girl's forehead before handing her over. He took Zola carefully from her arms and left, closing the door behind him. "What is it?" Arizona asked, tilting her head to take in Teddy's uncomfortable body language.

"I just want to say that everyone is fine, okay? Stable, in good condition. But the trauma that came in yesterday? That kept me at the hospital? It was a car accident. Kepner and Callie were hit by a truck while they were on their way to pick up Addison from the airport."

Arizona felt all the air rush out of the room. "Teddy…"

"Callie's fine. The baby is fine. Kepner is fine," Teddy reassured quickly.

"Teddy!" she could feel her breathing speed up, and forced her body to calm. Collapsing halfway across the world wouldn't help Callie at all.

"Callie hit her head on the windshield, pretty hard. She had a couple of bleeders, but Derek repaired them easily enough. After a bit of disorientation when she first woke up, she was absolutely aware of her surroundings. She needs a bit of physio to regain some motor control, but otherwise is fine neurologically. There were abdominal bleeders. She was packed in her first operation and we went back in later on. Addison took the baby in a C-section then. Her Apgar was up to a nine when I left. Bailey fixed the bleeders once the baby was out and Callie is _just fine_. Oh, and Kepner had a really nasty head lac and some bad bruising from her seatbelt; her CT was clear."

Arizona buried her head in her hands. A part of her wanted to jump on the next plane to Seattle, but she fully realized she'd lost the opportunity – the right – to be there for Callie months ago. Her palms felt wet; she scrubbed at her cheeks. For a long moment she concentrated on her breathing. She chanted in her head, _Calliope's fine, Calliope's fine._ She spared a quick prayer for the baby, desperate to get her hands on the newborn's chart. "She was what, eight months along?"

Teddy's response was quiet, but firm, "Yes. Addison had her on steroids before delivery and was very pleased with the results. Kepner was back by then from her own treatment and assisted Fields until Addison was done with Callie. There were no complications; she even started crying in the OR before they left for the NICU."

"So what now? How long will Calliope have to be in the hospital? Will Sloan," she couldn't control her lips twisting into a disgusted face, "take the baby home?"

"I don't think anyone's figured that out yet. But given how they were shouting at each other like two days ago, I think Addison will likely just keep Sofia in the NICU until Callie's ready to go home too. No one will stop her, and she's already rearranged her schedule to be here for the next couple of months anyway, even if it's a bit earlier than she planned."

"Sofia?" the whisper was almost overridden by the static on their connection.

Teddy sighed softly, "Yes. Sofia Ruby Torres. Callie had just decided the day before the accident."

Arizona felt her face pale. The middle name struck her in the gut. And the lack of a "Sloan" in there somewhere confused her. "No Sloan?" she asked, tamping down any sense of hope that the omission gave her.

"No. No Sloan. I don't even know if she bothered to put him on the birth certificate, she's that angry. Especially once Kepner blurted out his fight with Bailey in the ICU." Teddy seemed to be unable to control her words, as she got going.

"Teddy?"

The simple inquiry opened a floodgate in her friend, as Teddy's frustration with the accident, the entire Torres/Sloan situation, and especially with Mark's words to Bailey, Kepner, and Addison boiled over. She hadn't been there for the shouting, but had heard a tense retelling of it from Addison, backed up by Bailey and April, in Callie's hospital room not terribly long after the ortho surgeon woke up and demanded to be filled in on events.

As Teddy pushed through the story, Arizona felt her fear and anger mingle, feeding off each other. Fear over almost losing someone she didn't even _have_ anymore – though Callie would always be "it" for her, she knew their breakup was likely final, forever. And fierce anger with Sloan over his uncaring attitude regarding his child. Anyone who claimed to know Callie so well would have known she'd put her child first, no matter the cost. It was down to Addison's not inconsiderable skill and pure luck that little Sofia arrived with so few complications despite the trauma to her mother's body.

"I thought you should know," Teddy finished softly, ignoring that she had deliberately omitted what Callie had said on coming out of the anesthesia. That would only hurt the woman in front of her unnecessarily.

Arizona shook her head, trying to clear it. "Thank you, Teddy." She tamped down her roiling emotions, mentally grasping for a change of topic, "You do realize this is like the first time in months you've not brought up your paper husband when we talk, right?"

Teddy wasn't fooled by her friend's caricature of an impish grin – Arizona's smile certainly didn't reach her eyes, but she allowed the diversion. "Because he's fine, and I'm exhausted. And there's nothing going on between Henry and I."

"Of course not," Arizona nodded. "It's all business between you and Mister Burton."

Feeling a blush creep up her neck, Teddy glared at her computer screen, "It is. Look, you need to tell me what's going to happen with the adoption application. Because you will be such a good mother, Arizona Robbins, and I need to meet that little girl."

Arizona let herself be distracted by her best friend's questions, answering as best she could. The process was complicated, and she was honestly afraid of it. But the end result she hoped for would be worth it. _Zola_ was worth it.

X-X-X-X

Callie pushed herself in physiotherapy, wrestling with the stupid medicine ball. As long as she was in the hospital, so was Sofia. She could have allowed Addison to release her daughter to Mark, but she didn't trust him. Not at all, anymore. She had thought she knew him. But his behavior since she got pregnant, not even counting the ICU incident, had appalled her. She tried to think why that was. She didn't think he'd really changed much.

"What'd that medicine ball ever do to you, Torres?" came Bailey's voice from the doorway.

Callie dropped the ball in surprise, glaring at her friend, "It's keeping me, and Sofia, here. That's what. I can barely hold my own baby!" She felt the tears of frustration well, and wiped them away, her movements both clumsy and angry.

"She could go home. She's got two parents," Bailey pointed out matter-of-factly.

"She has me. And a manwhore. I don't trust him," Callie snapped.

Bailey stared at her old friend and coworker. They were close, but theirs wasn't a friendship of frequent emotional chats or declarations of affection. It was years of shared experience, shared struggle, shared work as exceedingly talented surgeons in their respective specialties. They'd been interns together, the only two women, and people of color, in their class. They'd survived losing friends and coworkers, together. They'd been there for important moments in each other's lives. And yet it was as if Miranda Bailey was truly seeing a new Callie Torres for the first time. Though she supposed it had been the same for Callie, years before, when her friend had snuck up after the bomb to visit her and an hours-old Little Tuck. Callie Torres was now a mother. A fiercely protective one, at that.

"I never thought I'd see this day, Torres," she said, softly, smiling. "You grew up, and stopped seeing Sloan with those rose-colored glasses you've always worn around him."

Callie stared, confused, "Bailey?"

She shook her head, grinning slightly, "You always saw Sloan as who he could be, not as who he actually is. And that's sweet of you to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he's crass, and crude, he treats women like dirt, and he's immature. Without Robbins, or, Lord forbid, Hahn, here to challenge him, call him on his crap, he's gone back to being that arrogant bastard the nurses went on strike against."

Callie settled in a nearby chair, every movement carefully planned even as her mind whirled with what Bailey had said to her. "Shit, you're right," she breathed. Arizona and Erica had always called Mark on his crap, had tolerated – barely – his presence in their lives for her sake. How had she not seen that before? Both her girlfriends had _loathed_ him. And he'd given them ample reason to. While she had given an unspoken ultimatum – deal with his presence, or leave. Both had, in different ways. But in the end, she was left, alone with Mark.

"I usually am," Bailey said, allowing Callie the time to absorb her words. "Look, you have a responsibility to that baby girl. You do what you think is best for her. Whatever that ends up being."

"Have you met her yet, Bailey?" Callie pulled herself from her raging thoughts, and turned to her friend, smiling broadly at the mention of her daughter.

"I have seen her, yes of course. Haven't had the time to stop by the NICU when you've been there."

Callie rose slowly, accepting Bailey's proffered arm for support. "Well, I'm mostly done for today, so how about a little field trip? I'm sure Sofia really wants to meet her aunt Miranda."

"I will never turn down a chance to cuddle an adorable baby, Torres," Bailey grinned softly as she was led out the door.

X-X-X-X

She stood in the SGMW ICU, the cuts on her forehead aching, her head pounding, dressed in fresh scrubs over a battered, sore, dirty body. And she stood her ground, shouting. Shouting for _her_ Calliope, shouting for _her_ baby. Until Mark pulled out the big guns, the nuclear device of their argument, "No, you don't get a say! This is my family! I'm the father! I'm the father! You're not anything! You're nothing!" She felt his words like a slap across the face. No, like a knee to the gut, a sledge to the chest. Something inside her broke.

Suddenly the scene shifted to an OR; she felt the scrub cap on her head and the mask over her face. Monitors blared angrily, alerting everyone to a lack of heartbeat. "I'm taking the baby," she heard Addison Montgomery say. Suddenly a slimy baby was in her hands, but not a newborn. Instead, she set a vernix-covered Zola down on the available table, her little girl not breathing. Frantic mentally but with steady hands, she administered epi, she suctioned Zola's mouth, she performed chest compressions. She did everything, but still Zola didn't breathe. She vaguely heard Addison's voice from next to her say, "Time of death, 14:02," even as the screaming monitors heralded Callie's death as well.

Her surgical gloves covered in vernix and amniotic fluid, she brought her hands to her face and collapsed on the ground, screaming her throat raw. They were gone. Her future was gone. She had absolutely nothing left. So she screamed.

Until she bolted up in bed, panting. Her room was silent but for the sound of her breathing. Until she noticed the soft snuffling from the crib pushed up against the wall with bright pink and red letters spelling out ZOLA hanging above and a small mobile overhanging it. The crib had taken over six hours for two highly educated surgeons to put together. The directions were printed in five languages – three of which they spoke – and neither could make head nor tails of it. She'd almost let Alex just nail things in pell-mell before deciphering one crucial _insert B tab into C slot_ diagram. The crib – a particularly nice piece of furniture that could be adjusted when needed into a toddler bed - had been a gift from Teddy and Bailey, shipped via her best friend's extensive military contacts and a rather large fee.

The snuffling was Zola's pre-wake up noise, giving her time to shake herself awake and wrap up in a bathrobe before sneaking over to rub Zola's back and hopefully head off the crying. The crying that had woken herself and Alex up four times in the last week. Her protégé invested in earplugs, and she had ingested even more coffee than normal as they adapted to having a baby in their tiny apartment. Getting to take Zola home so quickly had been a surprise, but given her position bringing the Carter-Madison funded clinic to Malawi, as well as her glowing recommendations and an overworked social services system desperate for good placements, she perhaps should have been prepared to have a baby before she had a crib, or a single diaper, ready. It had galled her Type-A personality, but care packages from Teddy, Bailey, and her mother had arrived the next day, full of soft cotton onesies, cloth diapers, baby sling, and the all important crib.

Zola being with her felt perfect. From the moment they walked in the door it had been right – more right than anything else in her life ever had before.

"_And this is your new home, big girl!" Arizona said to the infant in her arms the moment they walked into the cramped apartment. Zola looked around curiously, her dark eyes lighting up at the new surroundings. _

_Alex followed the pair inside, automatically bolting the door behind him._

"_She's not even six months old, Robbins," he said, a tiny smirking grin twisting his lips._

"_Language develops before they speak, you know that, Karev," she shot back. "Which is why you read to kids."_

"_Last week you read her an article from American Pediatrics on hip dysplasia birth defects. I'm pretty sure that's not Horton Hears a Who."_

"_Yeah, well, I didn't exactly pack my Dr Seuss collection for this trip. Which means my mom has already realized that and we'll get a library's worth as soon as she buys out the local Borders," Arizona sighed._

"_I learned to read off a bar menu, didn't hurt me. She'll be fine with medical journals," Karev said, patting Zola gently on the head as he set down the pile of paperwork he'd brought home._

"_What did Bailey say once, you were raised out back with the trash cans? I think I can do a little better with Zola, no matter how well you turned out," Arizona grinned, swaying a bit to soothe the fussy girl in her arms. "Isn't that right, Zola? Your uncle Alex turned out okay, didn't he?"_

_Karev blushed bright red, and Arizona laughed. _

Arizona grinned at the memory, even as she rubbed gentle circles on Zola. It wasn't quite enough to soothe, so she picked up her child and started a careful routine of rocking, walking, and gentle murmurs. Once Zola was deeply asleep once more, she settled on her bed, leaning against the headboard as she watched the child in her arms slumber. She had had many good and valid reasons for not wanting children for most of her adult life. Reasons involving her family history, her incredibly busy career, and her own self-doubts. Reasons she still honestly agreed with. Reasons she would never have even considered setting aside if not for Callie Torres. Reasons that (she hoped) would have crumbled no matter what the first time she met Zola. Ten thousand miles from home, she had found her family, her daughter.

X-X-X-X

Teddy settled by the breakfast bar, slouching on a stool as she chatted with Bailey softly. A small part of her felt duplicitous to be at Callie's welcome home party when she'd also recently sent a crib as a gift to Arizona, but most of her mind was quite happy to celebrate with her friends. Callie and April's car accident had scared a number of the staff, especially those who still remembered George O'Malley's death as well as the shooting. The hospital had been tense during the early stages of Callie's recovery, relaxing only when it was clear she would be able to return to work eventually and that her daughter was more than healthy. Sofia had become the darling of the nurses, charming those in the NICU and up on the floor where Callie had been staying during her recovery.

Ever since the first day after Callie woke up, Teddy had visited when she had a free moment. She hadn't been alone – Kepner had practically moved in to the room and Addison was usually ensconced in the corner with a pile of paperwork any time Teddy stopped by, after wheeling down Sofia in her bassinet for a visit. She liked Callie, respected her as a colleague and appreciated her as a friend. Frustrated and bored, Callie had been thankful for Teddy's random hospital gossip, fresh coffee from the good shop down the road, and regular gift of trashy magazines.

She also casually mentioned Callie's progress in recovery in her near-daily emails or chats with Arizona. She couldn't help it, even as Arizona glowed with a mix of exhaustion and happiness at her newfound motherhood, Teddy could see that she also hungered for knowledge of her ex. So Teddy stopped by, made small talk, cooed over the admittedly adorable baby, occasionally brought coffee for everyone, talked about cool surgeries, and then fed a steady stream of information to her best friend. "What is up with your face?" came Bailey's gruff question, startling her out of her thoughts.

Teddy blinked, shaking dark blond hair out of her eyes. "Nothing, nothing. Just thinking about our mutual friend," she intimated, in the vaguely subtle way they'd taken to once discovering they were both in contact with Arizona still.

"I sent her the file on the Blatchley child, she said she'd email me soon with her ideas," Bailey murmured softly. With Stark useless, Arizona and Karev gone, and Addison only an occasional visitor to Seattle, she'd started to take on many more pediatric cases, especially the more challenging ones.

"Tough case," Teddy replied, familiar with some aspects of the situation.

Almost in concert, their phones buzzed in their pockets. Glancing at each other, Teddy pulled hers from a pocket and Bailey from her purse on the breakfast bar. Teddy couldn't help the wide smile once she checked her messages. Arizona had sent a picture of Zola, her tiny butt up in the air as she slept in the crib they'd sent. She showed the picture to Bailey, who was skimming a detailed email from Arizona regarding her long-distance consult before checking the more personal note. Their smiles matched as they each read their messages and waited for the guest of honor to arrive.

X-X-X-X

Callie let Addison carry the diaper bag and her own small suitcase out of the hospital. With Sofia in her arms and April pushing the wheelchair, she was ready to leave after several weeks stuck inside - except for a couple of secret trips when her protégé had pushed her in a wheelchair up to the helipad on the roof for a breath of fresh air. The night was cool and clear, and once at the curb, she let Addison support her elbow to rise from the chair April held steady. After April jogged it back into the hospital, the trio made their way across the street to Callie's apartment, where Addison had been staying since she arrived. Callie wasn't quite sure where her friend would stay now – there was a twin bed in Sofia's room and a couch Addison had bought her as a remodeling gift was convertible – but the subject had yet to come up.

They were silent as they crossed the street and boarded the elevator to the fifth floor. Callie knew from checking the schedule that Mark was working, a burn case that had come in taking up all his attention as he monitored the skin he was growing for a much-needed graft. She had invited Addison and April to stay for awhile, get a pizza for dinner and relax on her first night home.

Callie let Addison unlock the door, her friend ushering her into her apartment for the first time in far too long. Hence why she was surprised to see a handful of her friends lounging around in the living area, sipping wine or beer or tequila and snacking on a few trays of store-bought hors d'oeuvres. Teddy and Bailey were by the breakfast bar chatting, Meredith and Cristina were taking shots while stuffing their faces with bruschetta, and Lexie – fresh off what ended up being a thirty hour shift – sprawled asleep on a couch, her lanky frame taking up the entire piece of furniture. Bailey was the first to notice Callie stock still in the doorway. The shorter woman smiled at the sight of a snoozing Sofia in Callie's arms, "Well, come on in, Torres, it's your home and your party." She pointed at an oversized, sparkly homemade banner reading '_Welcome Home Callie and Sofia'_ hanging over the fireplace. She could recognize April's handwriting and penchant for sparkles in the decoration.

Callie felt happy tears gather in her eyes. The last few months had been horrible, but the women in her living room had made it bearable. Made it feel like she was doing the right thing and was in the right place for her future. Even those she'd never expected to support her had – Meredith was a surprise given their history, but the elder Grey had been quietly supportive once she got over the jealousy given her own fertility problems, while Lexie, who she had expected to forgive and eventually get back with Mark, had washed her hands of Sloan and drifted closer to April as Jackson descended into Sloan-style arrogance as the younger member of the Plastics Posse. Internally she sighed, not having expected to become such a focal point for the drama amongst her friends and coworkers but appreciating the support and camaraderie nonetheless.

"Well, let's get the party started, as long as it's quiet. Sleeping baby here," Callie grinned.

"Why don't you give her here, and grab something to eat?" Addison suggested.

"Sure," was the reply as she carefully transferred Sofia into her godmother's arms.

Addison glowed as she held her goddaughter. In the midst of her own family planning saga, she'd found a bit of peace in Seattle. April took Callie by the arm and led her over to the food, setting a plate in her mentor's hands and gesturing to the spread before them.

Things were looking up for Callie Torres. She was out of the hospital, her baby was healthy, and her friends surrounded her.

tbc…


End file.
